New Delhi and the NCR region is witnessing a flurry of activity, with the countdown on for the Commonwealth Games. Bindu Gopal Rao finds out how prepared the capital city is.
New Delhi is expected to see a similar euphoria as what Beijing witnessed during the last Olympic Games, and hoteliers are certainly gearing up to cash in.
Industry experts estimate that one lakh additional tourists will arrive in India during the Commonwealth Games (03-14 October), and the hospitality industry is seeing this as an opportunity to turn things around after a rather lacklustre 2009.
This is all well and good, but how ready is Delhi to face the accomodation challenge? A senior travel trade representative who does not wish to be quoted on this, said that the city is nowhere close to ready, and that a ‘patch-up job’ will be done as usual, just before the Games.
Vijay Thacker, director, Horwath HTL, is also sceptical. “It’s an amazingly odd situation, where there is a combination of the government and the private sector. I’m not saying one is less responsible than the other, however – the planning was not practical.
The pricing, the bidding, the valuations, were all wrong.We don’t care sufficiently what the outside world thinks about us; we don’t seek to excel, we seek to ‘just manage’,” he says candidly.
In all, there are almost 40,000 rooms required for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) 2010. “There are 10,421-rooms which will be ready, which belong to Delhi Development Authority (DDA), Haryana, Greater Noida and GDA.
There is another set of 649-rooms which are likely to be ready by then. About 11,083-rooms are available in guest houses as per the review/ grading of Institute of Hotel Management (IHM) Pusa, for the same purpose.
As a part of the Bed & Breakfast (B&B) Scheme under the Department of Tourism, Government of Delhi, 3000-rooms is the target for the CWG, of which 1610 are presently available in New Delhi and NCR.
Further, there are 5500 housing units of DDA rooms in Vasant Kunj which will be ready to be operated by ITDC, of which 2000 will be used by the CWG Organising Committee (OC). The rest of the 3500-rooms will remain with ITDC who will operate on them on a paid basis. A total of 10,161-rooms are available in the star categories in various hotels in Delhi and NCR region,” says an official spokesperson of the CWG OC.
According to Rajiv Makin, director, commercial and marketing, ITDC, the room requirement that is projected, will be fulfilled. The CWG OC has designated ITDC’s Hotel Ashok as the official ‘Games Family Hotel’.
“We are expecting a considerable rise in net profits during this period. ITDC is expected to make a profit of Rs800 million to Rs1 billion. Out of this, Rs300 million could be attributed to catering services, Rs400 million to the hotels division, and Rs200 million to the travel agency division,” says an official spokesperson from ITDC.
Hotel Ashok has undertaken extensive renovation including revamping of interiors, furnishings and upholstery, within a budget of a stated Rs146 crores.
Several new hotels are scheduled to open around this time period; one such is the Crowne Plaza Today at New Delhi Okhla.
“Okhla has emerged as an important destination for many global business houses. Further, we believe that the hotel will help in supporting the expected upsurge in catering to the increase in domestic and business travellers,” says Barun Jolly, general manager, Crowne Plaza Today, New Delhi Okhla.
Sarovar Hotels and Resorts also launched a premium business hotel, the Optus Sarovar Premiere, in January. This new 80-room hotel is the group’s third in Gurgaon, with Park Plaza at Sushant Lok and Park Inn at Civil Lines already operational, besides two at New Delhi.
Says Anil Madhok, managing director, Sarovar Hotels and Resorts: “Sarovar is targetting to open six hotels before the CWG. The biggest challenge over the last one year has been increasing input costs, and demanding a revisit of sanctioned budgets and plans on a regular basis.”
Says Rajji Rai, president TAAI: “We are doing our best to put up a good show. Delhi will become a much better city to live in by October; roads, power and water, will be adequate. The effort to make things work will be at its height.”
Incidentally, most new players do not foresee too many challenges to open before the CWG. Says Matthew Cooper, general manager, Courtyard by Marriott, Gurgaon: “Our project was planned well in advance, so there were no major challenges of opening on time. We were just a little behind schedule, but still have several months of full-fledged operations before the CWG that should hold us in good stead.”
Dusit Bird Hotels also enter the fray with the much anticipated Dusit Devarana, the first time this brand is being launched outside Thailand, and which was initially scheduled for a Dubai launch. Harsh Varma, regional vice president India, Dusit Bird Hotels, admits that there is a lot of pressure on the suppliers and contractors due to the CWG, but says there are no delays being caused.
“In fact, at the moment accommodation is a big priority, and we are seeing ease in the availability of goods and services and are comfortably poised to open before the CWG,” he states.
Hotels are expecting to be running full and as Varma puts it, the issue is more with the supply of rooms than with demand for them. Dusit has in fact allocated 30% of its property to the CWG OC for high profile clientele.
“We are expecting two kinds of business – one from what we have already allocated in this manner and the other from corporate and leisure travellers, given the intense international interest in the Games,” says Varma.
Finally, the Delhi government granted hotels a breather by exempting them from payment of luxury tax for the Games. It is estimated that the total amount of exemption in luxury tax will be around Rs300 million and will be provided for a month (from Sep 16 to Oct 16) on hotel accommodation booked by the CWG OC for delegates from the CWG Federation, member countries of the CWG Associations, technical experts of International Sports Federations and broadcasting/media right holders for the games.
Of a more immediate concern is the recent German Bakery bomb blast in the city of Pune, in the light of which UK, USA and Australia have issued travel advisories. Is this going to affect the projected visitor numbers? According to Rai, it’s a difficult question.
“The travel advisories have been given by three countries as of now, and our government has pooh-poohed it and is doing its best to contain it. If this snowballs into a mini controversy then yes, it will have an impact.
Unlike Indians who travel at a moment’s notice, Americans and Europeans would have already planned their trip for the CWG.
If the US and UK take a stern stand, then it will have a short-term as well as long-term impact and I fear that, as it will have a spiral effect. It is unfair that the travel trade is targetted every time something happens,” he says sombrely. However, Makin says that there is no immediate effect that has been noticed.
Says Cooper: “I am an optimist and believe that Delhi will be full during the CWG, having witnessed the same earlier in Melbourne and seen the kind of business generated.
We expect to be running full as the level of security we provide is next to none, with bomb detection, sniffer dogs, and x-ray baggage scanning procedures in place.
In fact a lot of athletes, media personnel, and support networks will be visiting the city in advance to acclimatise themselves, and there is a lot of potential business there as well,” he sums up.
(with inputs from Punam Mohandas)
The national sport
Major Dhyanchand National Stadium, the proposed venue for hosting hockey events of the CWG, has been entirely re-constructed; the entire work including installation of astroturfs imported from Australia, has been successfully completed. Mumbai based Unity Infraprojects Limited (UIL) was awarded the construction contract through national competitive bidding.
Says Yogen Lal, chief operating officer, UIL: “Being located close to India Gate, we had several challenges as there were traffic restrictions and a large part of the work needed to be done during night hours, but we were able to complete the tasks on schedule.”
As part of this refurbishment, the original stands have been demolished and a new rectangular seating bowl has been constructed in its place. The VIP Gallery and new gallery with two-tier basement parking is functional. The revamped main field of the stadium with a seating capacity of 20,000 is equipped with four floodlight towers.
Mast lights can now be raised up to 30-metres in height during the Games and then brought down to 12-metres after the event, to ensure an unhindered view of India Gate. There is also a secondary play area and a warm-up pitch. The western facade of the stadium, being a heritage structure, remains untouched by construction.
